


Easy to Be

by satonawall



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-16 01:28:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9267617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/satonawall/pseuds/satonawall
Summary: Magnus and Alec return back to their argument to tie up a few loose ends.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically a 2.01 reaction fic (is it still a reaction fic if it takes you almost a week to write it?), but don't ask me where it falls on the timeline, aside from vaguely 'some night after the events' (if you do ask, the answer will be, '¯\\_(ツ)_/¯').
> 
> This is also my first Shadowhunters fic (also I haven't and won't read the books), so I hope the characterisation came off okay.

He should have been tired.

But there he was, vaguely entangled with Alec in his loft, eyes dutifully closed but his head far too full of thoughts to even consider getting tired, let alone sleeping.

They were lying on the sofa that was blatantly too small for the both of them. Magnus would have suggested moving to a proper bed, but that had all sorts of implications and he didn’t quite dare to open that can of worms, not after the day they’d had and all the worms they’d already dealt with. So the sofa it was. It _was_ a comfortable sofa. Magnus had suffered far worse, for worse company.

“Magnus?”

Alec’s voice was quiet, hesitant, and Magnus almost startled to hear it at all. He’d thought Alec might have already fallen asleep.

“Mmm?”

With their current positions, he couldn’t have seen Alec’s expression even if his eyes had been open, but Alec didn’t feel particularly tense where Magnus’s arm was draped over him.

“When you said- When you said I did it for me, at the wedding... It wasn’t a condemnation, was it?”

Magnus blinked, then blinked again, leaving his eyes open. The way Alec said it, it wasn’t really a question, but it still needed an answer.

“It wasn’t,” he said. “I thought that was obvious.”

He hadn’t really thought that at the time; he’d been frustrated, angry and hurt, and all consideration he had for Alec’s feelings at the time (which didn’t amount to much; he’d been frustrated, angry and hurt) had gone into not saying something he didn’t actually mean. But it had always been so obvious to him he’d never needed to consciously think it.

Obviously, the same didn’t go for Alec.

“I guess-“ Alec’s head turned so that Magnus could see part of the hint of a smile on his lips. “It was. But I’m not that good with the obvious.”

Magnus snorted, too tired to give the admission the comeback it deserved.

Alec broke the silence, his fingers pressing lightly against Magnus’s side. “I’m not trying to... I’m still sorry about the way I acted.”

“I know.”

He tried to do some reassuring movement with the arm that was around Alec, but judging by the quick tilt of Alec’s head he only succeeded in almost swatting at Alec’s face.

Alec didn’t say anything for a long time, and Magnus wasn’t sure if it was because he was still working through the idea that doing something for himself could be good or because he’d actually fallen asleep this time. Either one would do him good.

“You’re not.”

Magnus blinked. “What?”

With a good amount of wriggling and at least one second when he was about to fall off the sofa, Alec turned to face him properly.

“You said you’re a lot to get used to.” Alec’s gaze flicked to Magnus’s eyes, dropped to his shirt, moved back to his eyes. “It- It wasn’t that, it was all just... overwhelming, I needed to get away. But it was the whole situation, not you specifically.”

Despite the silence that fell, Alec didn’t look like he was done, more like he was trying to find the words he wanted. Magnus was all too glad to give him the time; his heart was in his throat, beating so loudly that it would have drowned out any words he might have used, anyway.

“But you’re not- I mean, you are a lot, with all your magic and experience and layers and power and-“ Alec’s gaze dropped to Magnus’s shoulder again, but not before Magnus caught a glimpse of the awed, _admiring_ look in Alec’s eye that made his heart jump so high it felt like Magnus was choking on it. “But it’s never like that’s bad, or like it’s bothering me, it’s just- It’s all you, and it’s all amazing, and maybe it should be intimidating but it’s just always been- It’s always just been so easy to _be_ around you, I don’t know how to-“

Magnus really didn’t know how to, either; he felt all of three seconds away from bursting. He’d figured Alec had all but forgotten Magnus had said that at all, it wasn’t like it had turned out to be relevant to their argument. It shouldn’t have felt this nice that he hadn’t, but if multiple lifetimes had taught Magnus anything, it was that you couldn’t stop yourself from feeling what you felt. Right then, he felt like tackling Alec to the floor and kissing him breathless, or maybe like burying his head against Alec’s shoulder and crying his heart out.

In reality, he did neither, just gaped at Alec, his mouth slightly open like a fish out of water. Mercifully, Alec was yet again not looking him in the eye.

“I just mean,” Alec said, glancing up at him again, and Magnus closed his mouth, “that you’re a lot, yeah, but you could never be too much. I just- Thought I should tell you that.”

Words would still not come to him, so Magnus just kept staring at Alec, and Alec held his gaze, the sincerity of his words evident in his eyes. The first words that came into Magnus’s mind, he couldn’t say out loud; they were way too fast and needed way too much talk to go with them. So he didn’t say anything, just moved his hand to the back of Alec’s neck, his thumb grazing Alec’s cheek, keeping his head in place as he surged forwards to kiss Alec.

The kiss was abruptly interrupted by- Magnus knew that logically the thump of Alec hitting the floor had to come after his lips abruptly left Magnus’s, but in his memories, the cause and effect went the other way around. Either way, it helped to push aside the big, unnameable feelings that had flooded his mind just seconds ago, and he was simply equal parts concerned, amused and just plain annoyed at gravity for interrupting them as he peered over the edge of the sofa.

“Are you okay?”

Alec looked up at him, and Magnus watched in awe as his eyes slowly lit up and a genuine, happy laugh escaped his throat.

“Not the worst fall I’ve ever had.”

“Well,” Magnus said, settling more comfortably at the edge of the sofa, “I hope it at least became the worst way to ruin the mood you’ve ever had.”

Alec sat up, moved onto his knees, rested his elbows against the sofa and gave Magnus that delightful small smile. “I don’t think it ruined anything.”

Magnus chuckled in agreement before moving forwards to bridge the unnecessary gap between them.

It was an awkward angle, though, and the warmth that had started growing in his stomach during their talk was making him content enough to get sleepy, so Magnus broke the kiss quickly.

And suddenly, it felt like the most natural thing to say, “Do you want to go to bed? Just to sleep, I mean.”

He was rewarded with another small, growing smile, even as Alec averted his gaze and faked nonchalance for his reply. “What, no cuddling?”

This time, Magnus felt his own smile grow, and briefly wondered if Alec liked seeing it as much as he liked seeing Alec’s.

“I’m sure we can work something out.”


End file.
